Online Reputation: Tools and tips to manage effectively

Recently, a friend told me about a negative incident she had while dining at a large restaurant chain. Her waitress was very rude and inattentive. By the time her meal arrived, her colleague had finished eating. The last straw was realizing her steak was prepared wrong. Angrily, she took out her I Phone and sent out a tweet to her followers about her experience. Minutes later, she received an apology from the restaurant’s general manager; the cost of her meal was waived; and she was given a $100 gift certificate for a future visit. Imagine if that restaurant chain didn’t have a social media presence? What you don’t know can harm you!

“It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.”

Benjamin Franklin

Do you know what people are saying about you, your business or brand? Whether you are managing one or all, your online reputation is extremely important.

According to a recent study at Forrester Customer Experience Forum, a single negative comment using a social media platform, can equate to a loss of 30 potential clients. Can your business afford such a loss? If the answer is NO, then read on for tools and tips:

7 Tools to monitor your reputation regularly

Blog Pulse: an automated trend discovery system for blogs. This search engine analyzes and reports on daily activity in the blogosphere. http://www.blogpulse.com

Board Tracker: a message tracking and instant alerts system designed to provide relevant information quickly and efficiently while ensuring you never miss an important forum thread. http://www.boardtracker.com/

Google Alerts: updates sent via email of the latest relevant Google results based on your choice of query or topic. http://www.google.com/alerts

Social Mention Alerts: a social media search and analysis platform that aggregates user generated content from across the universe into a single stream of information. It allows you to easily track and measure what people are saying about you, your company, a new product, or any topic across the web’s social media landscape in real-time. http://www.socialmention.com

Technorati: a search engine that indexes blogs. Find mentions of your blog or specific keywords across other blogs. Subscribe to the search results feed and get notified of new mentions. http://technorati.com/

Trackur: pulls keyword mentions from a variety of sources, not just Google Alerts, but its biggest use comes from the ability to save, sort, tag, share and subscribe to particular feeds. http://www.trackur.com/

Unfortunately, you can’t control the actions of other people. You can however, have a positive influence over the outcome. Here are:

5 Tips on handling negative criticism

Handle the situation or issue immediately

Listen with an open mind and use the ‘criticism’ as a way to improve

Thank the person for his/her feedback

Apologize… and apologize again

Explain how you will rectify the situation or issue

So, why do you need to create an online presence? It’s simple, if you don’t control your reputation, someone else will.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Sylvia Browder is CEO of Browder Consulting Group, a virtual small business consulting firm. In her role, she helps Women in Business grow and succeed. She is also founder of National Association Women on the Rise, a virtual community for aspiring and established women entrepreneurs. The association’s mission is to provide professional and personal resources while uplifting and empowering women entrepreneurs through collaboration, education, mentoring, spiritual and peer support, leadership and networking. She has served as an online volunteer SCORE counselor since 2004. For FREE weekly articles go to Sylvia Browder’s Blog for Women Entrepreneurs, www.sylviabrowder.com. She can be contacted at info@nawomenrise.com.